"It is absolutely unacceptable that the Senate Republicans would turn their backs on their constituents who they are honor-bound to represent here in this building. They need to return and do the jobs they were elected to do."

The bill would make Oregon the second state to have a comprehensive cap-and-invest strategy for combating climate change.

The bill has faced opposition from Republicans, as well as loggers and truckers, who say it would cut jobs in the logging industry and increase fuel prices.

Hundreds of truckers and loggers protested the bill at the state Capitol.

Supporters of the bill hope to reduce emissions over time and move businesses away from fossil fuels.

The Oregon Senate Republicans Twitter account posted a quote from Brown in 2001, when she was Senate Democratic leader, supporting a walkout by Democrats over a Republican legislative redistricting bill. "Well here we are, Senate Rs fighting for Oregonians," the tweet read.

This is the second time in two months that Oregon's Senate Republican walked out in protest.

After a four-day walkout in May, Brown made a deal with the GOP over a school funding tax package. Republicans made a trade off with the governor and promised not to walk out again.

"This is a sad day for Oregon," Republican Sen. Herman Baertschiger tweeted.

"There is no fine that could ever amount to the FEAR democrats have put on Oregonians over the #hb2020 legislation that will destroy livelihoods of many in our state."

Right-wing militia groups across the Pacific Northwest are mobilizing to prevent Oregon state police from arresting Republican state senators who went into hiding on Thursday in order to prevent climate change legislation from passing.

All 11 of Oregon’s Republican state senators are currently on the lam, with some leaving for Idaho in an effort to deny the Democrat-controlled state senate a quorum to pass a cap-and-trade bill.

In response, Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), citing a provision in the state constitution that allows the state to “compel” absent lawmakers to attend legislative sessions, dispatched state troopers to bring them back.

One of the lawmakers on the lam, Republican Brian Boquist (R), warned that he would resort to violence rather than return to the state, implying in a local television interview that he would attack law enforcement officers sent to retrieve him.

“Send bachelors and come heavily armed,” Boquist said.

“I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”

Militia groups in the Pacific Northwest—a hotbed of far-right extremist activism—claim they’ve mobilized to protect those state senators.

“We’re doing what we can to make sure that they’re safe and comfortable,” said Eric Parker, the president of militia group Real Three Percenters Idaho, adding that the Idaho militias are in touch with their Oregon counterparts about the senators.

In a Facebook post, Paul Luhrs, a member of the Oregon III%er militia, said the militia had “vowed to provide security, transportation and refuge for those Senators in need.”

“We will stand together with unwavering resolve, doing whatever it takes to keep these Senators safe,” Luhrs wrote.

This isn’t the first time state lawmakers of either party have fled their states to deny their rivals a quorum.

In 2003, Texas Democrats left the state to avoid a vote on redistricting legislation, while Democratic lawmakers in Wisconsin fled in 2011 to block Republican cuts to union rights.

But what makes the current standoff in Oregon unique is the offers of help from militias—and the threats by at least one of those lawmakers to shoot police himself.

Despite the offers, it’s not clear whether any of the Republican senators are actually in contact with the militia groups or have received help from them. Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., who fled the state with the rest of the senate Republican caucus, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Parker declined to comment about whether his group has been in contact with the senators themselves.

One source inside the Oregon militia movement told The Daily Beast that their members were “willing to put their own lives in front of these senators’ lives.”

The source claimed that dozens of armed militia members have “mobilized” to protect the state senators, and said there was potential for violence if law enforcement officials try to bring the senators back to Oregon.

The source added that the militias would defend the Republicans “at any cost.”

“All of these people are armed,” the source said.

The militia mobilization has drawn in members of the III%ers, the Oath Keepers, and independent militia groups from outside the state, according to the militia source.

The III%ers derive their name from their belief that only 3 percent of colonists were involved in the American Revolution, while the Oath Keepers claim to be veterans and law enforcement officers who have vowed not to violate their “oaths.”

Parker, the Idaho militia leader, compared the fugitive state senators to the far-right activists who engaged in an armed stand-off with federal agents at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada in 2014.

“We see it the same as we saw the protesters in the wash at the Bundy Ranch,” Parker said.

This isn’t the first time Oregon has seen militias “mobilize” for political ends.

In 2016, militia members, led by members of Nevada’s Bundy family who argued that the land should be open for private use, briefly seized Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Militias are often trying to attach themselves to mainstream political causes in an attempt to win over new supporters, according to John Temple, the author of Up in Arms, a new book on the Bundys and the Malheur occupation.

Temple said the fleeing legislators have the potential to attract support from across the militia movement nationwide, especially after Boquist boasted about attacking police.

“They are public officials and carry some weight, yet they are talking like they are straight out of the Malheur occupation,” Temple said.

The Oregon Capital Bureau obtained an email from the Senate’s Democratic caucus telling its members on Friday to stay away from the Capitol on Saturday.

“The State Police superintendent just informed the Senate president of a credible threat from militia groups coming to the Capitol tomorrow,” the email read.

“The superintendent strongly recommends that no one come to the Capitol and President Courtney heeded that advice minutes ago by adjourning until 10 a.m. Sunday. Please make sure your staffs know not to come in tomorrow.”

This latest development is a dramatic escalation of the ongoing conflict roiling in Oregon’s state government.

It began on Thursday when Republican senators fled the state to avoid voting on a sweeping cap-and-trade bill aimed at reducing carbon emissions.

Gov. Kate Brown (D) responded by authorizing the state police to fetch the lawmakers.

Then right-wing militia groups publicly announced that they would provide refuge for the fleeing Republicans.

“These people are all armed and prepared to put themselves in front of senators to prevent arrests from Oregon State Police specifically,” a member of the Oregon III% organization told TPM.

A representative for the Senate’s GOP caucus told TPM on Friday that the senators “are not with any militias.”

A credible threat to government employees. Find and arrest these militia domestic terrorists.3 Replies71 Likes

inversion8h

"A representative for the Senate’s GOP caucus told TPM on Friday that the senators “are not with any militias.”bookmarking2 Replies21 Likes

civik

8h“Are not with” doesn’t mean “not accepting help”

voluntarycurmudgeon

4hHell, half the senators probably are the militias.

khyber9008h

Fight back Dems. Arrest the militias if they interfere with legislative business.2 Replies47 Likes

firewing2Prime Member

6hI dunno... I think this is the best thing that could happen to the Dems in Oregon.The Republicans came out awful quick to say they weren't with these militias, and now the Governor can be on the news every day calling out the Republicans who not only fled their jobs and refusing to serve the people but also turning lose domestic terrorists on the capitol with their own wanton lawlessness...The conflation of the two groups is going to make a lot of the Republicans real nervous. Their publicity stunt is backfiring...

rickjones

6hIf they’re convicted of felonies can Oregon take their guns?

tena8h

No sh*t - don't just shut down in the face of threats - fight back, goddamn it!34 Likes

Hmm, perhaps threatening the government is treason? Okay, maybe not on the state level, but it may be a crime, no?1 Reply16 Likes

pike_bishop8h

So, where is the evidence of these gun junkies qualifying as "A well-regulated militia..."? - 2nd Amend.11 Likes

pshah8h

They are terrorists, plain and simple. That’s the verbiage that should be used and would be applied if they weren’t white and right wing.35 Likes

pmm0808h

This is just nuts.And, domestic terrorism21 Likes

ANNFFL8h

Will there be punishment for these rethuglican senators? Also, is there any similar practice (refuse to attend a vote) in the US Senate?1 Reply5 Likes

matthew19618h

isakindamagic:Half of them are so-called 3-percenters themselves.I guess that makes them 1.5-percenters, right?2 Likes

mattinpa8h

This is just f*cking dandy. Antigovernment militias shutting down an entire state legislation. Like the end of the Weimar Republic or any other situation where the duly appointed forces of order can't get that job done. Maybe there's a rationale for shutting down to really guarantee no violence but this calls for a massive crackdown on these freaks. Toss their houses and vehicles and cite them not just for unauthorized guns, ammo, explosives, any of that fun stuff but also every cracked taillight and deck not up to code. They do not get to win.2 Replies50 Likes

j_publicus8h

isakindamagic:drama queen status, free with every AR-15.sh*t! I didn’t get any drama queen with mine!1 Like

Paracelsus8h tigersharktoo

Don't know about Oregon, but many state constitutions have treason provisions. John Brown was, after all, executed for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia.2 Replies16 Likes

caltg8h

system:Oregon Senate Cancels Session Due To 'Credible Threat' From Militia GroupsThe cowardice of the Rethuglican Senators in Oregon combined with the lawless intimidation by these so-called militia groups amounts to armed insurrection against the state and people of Oregon. By any definition, this is a form of treason against the United States. These illegal acts must not be allowed to stand and either state law enforcement, or if need be the Oregon National Guard should be dispatched to round up the criminal insurrectionists and jail them.1 Reply17 Likes

zauche

5hThe National Guard is likely not equiped to investigate or round up criminal insurrectionists. Better to call up the Guard to surround and protect the Capitol itself, while the state legislature conducts its business. A show of force should be enough to quell these blowhards, who would be unlikely to march on a well-armed legitimate military force. What have we come to that we even have to think about such things? Republican misrule threatens our democracy.

jkrogmanPrime Member8h

So now the GOP is consipiring with violent Right-Wing Terrorist groups!1 Reply11 Likes

epicurus

8h

jkrogman:So now the GOP is consipiring with violent Right-Wing Terrorist groups!That horse left the barn a long time ago.

tigersharktoo8h Paracelsus

Arrested by US Marines led by R.E. Lee, as I recall.Wonder if that was the Federal Government overreach the militias are so concerned about.1 Like

wanderer8h 1 mattinpa

mattinpa:Toss their houses and vehicles and cite them not just for unauthorized guns, ammo, explosives, any of that fun stuff but also every cracked taillight and deck not up to code. They do not get to win.Agreed. These people (who made threats) are threatening our country with violence if they don’t get their way. They truly are domestic terrorists. Take them down.1 Reply18 Likes

katwillow

2hThe ironic thing is most of the militia men are half-witted losers who'd run like rabbits at the threat of real violence. Unless they have children around to use as shields, most aren't as physically aggressive as they sound.In short: big mouth blowhards with guns.

losamigos8h Paracelsus

Most state constitutions include similar definitions of [federal] treason, specifically limited to levying war against the state, "adhering to the enemies" of the state, or aiding the enemies of the state, and requiring two witnesses or a confession in open court. Fewer than thirty people have ever been charged with treason under these laws. (wiki)Oregon Penalty: Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years.12 Likes

epicurus8h

jkrogman:So now the GOP is consipiring with violent Right-Wing Terrorist groups!That horse left the barn a long time ago.13 Likes

jkrogmanPrime Member8h

epicurus:(my quote) So now the GOP is consipiring with violent Right-Wing Terrorist groups!Epi: That horse left the barn a long time ago.I should have added "again." Thank you for your note.7 Likes

civik8h inversion

“Are not with” doesn’t mean “not accepting help”1 Reply10 Likes

inversion

7hI think the spokes answer could mean they aren't accepting help and they aren't militia members.I'm (somewhat) willing to accept the former, because some of these 'brave' anti vaxxers are likely setting up measles parties within their communities.Though it'll take a lot from them, I want proof about none of them being militiamen. They better hurry up too, because TPM Muckraker employs great researchers/writers.

imkmu38h wanderer

You can bet that if the perps were brown, the FBI and the State Police would descend on them like a horde of locusts.1 Reply11 Likes

katwillow

2hPossibly the governor called the FBI and Federal Marshalls. I know I would.

serendpitoussomnambulist7h

These militia are well regulated by the Republican party and its legislators. Ergo, they are patriots.1 Like

irasdadPrime Member7h wanderer

I thought that whole Second Amendment thingy began with:"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State..." Does Oregon have a well-regulated National Guard?Can Gov. Brown call them up?Do her citizens wish to preserve the security of their "free State"?Putting down armed and dangerous gun-nut terrorists who pose a credible threat to elected representatives just might be a "Second Amendment solution" that I could get behind...4 Replies29 Likes

jkrogmanPrime Member

7hGood point. The RIght-Wing Terrorists who are calling themselves 'militias' are violating a basic premise of the Second Amendment and therefore these terrorists are forfeiting any rights granted to them by this Amendment?

edgarant

7hNah, Scalia & ‘the Originalists’ reduced the meaning of that clause to nothingness.

brian512

7hThere's ample precedent.

darrtown

7hA lotta folk like to forget about the "well regulated militia" part of the 2nd amendment.

jkrogmanPrime Member7h

Good point. The RIght-Wing Terrorists who are calling themselves 'militias' are violating a basic premise of the Second Amendment and therefore these terrorists are forfeiting any rights granted to them by this Amendment?6 Likes

howardbeale7h wanderer

These aren't militias, more like terrorists. Perhaps democrats and the media should start referring to them as such...10 Likes

darrtown7h 1

Welp, this runs counter to my impression of the folks in Oregon. What the heck is so gawd awful about reducing carbon in the atmosphere? And why do local people find it necessary to stumble around, while heavily armed, attempting to prevent the police from doing their jobs? I always thought the poilce and right wingers were on the same page. Apparently trumplogic has infected Oregon.2 Replies6 Likes

murgatroid

7hThis is Red State Oregon, my neck of the woods, supporting the walkout--they don't believe in climate change, don't want government interfering in their lives, and are convinced that they ought to be a separate state, maybe with eastern Washington and Idaho. This area generally supported the Malheur refuge outrage. I've heard lots of complaining about having to live under Kate Brown's "jackboot," too. It makes you wonder, when there is such a clear-cut case for climate change action, what will happen to us when we have a serious national emergency that calls for consensus and unity.

rdt520

1hTrump logic has a firm hold on eastern Oregon, but the reason the GOP Senators are doing this is that the Dems now have the 60% majority needed to pass tax bills -- but the quorum is 67%. This is actually the 2nd time this spring the GOP has done this. Their last target was a school funding bill.

inversion7h civik

I think the spokes answer could mean they aren't accepting help and they aren't militia members.I'm (somewhat) willing to accept the former, because some of these 'brave' anti vaxxers are likely setting up measles parties within their communities.Though it'll take a lot from them, I want proof about none of them being militiamen. They better hurry up too, because TPM Muckraker employs great researchers/writers.6 Likes

tibetancowboy7h

Germany is now dealing with its own domestic terrorists at last. As for the USA, it can never deal with domestic terrorists because they are the government as well as these militias nationwide, and lone wolves. This is how civil war starts I hope, as the government's authority collapses as in Oregon. Read "Twilight's Last Gleaming" for a picture of just how civil war starts in the USA, why / how, what happens and the denouement of splitting the country up into several small sovereign nations, finally gutting this terrorist regime.1 Like

mrf7h

Yet after 9/11, Pearl Harbor and other national emergencies government offices were open legislators showed up to do the business of governance. These militias are nothing more than dime store cowboys.3 Likes

murgatroid7h darrtown

This is Red State Oregon, my neck of the woods, supporting the walkout--they don't believe in climate change, don't want government interfering in their lives, and are convinced that they ought to be a separate state, maybe with eastern Washington and Idaho. This area generally supported the Malheur refuge outrage. I've heard lots of complaining about having to live under Kate Brown's "jackboot," too. It makes you wonder, when there is such a clear-cut case for climate change action, what will happen to us when we have a serious national emergency that calls for consensus and unity.5 Replies14 Likes

darrtown

7hI did some of my graduate work at WSU in Pullman, WA a very long time ago (1976-1980). But I think the politics haven't changed all that much for the red parts of those 3 states.

atldrew

7h

murgatroid:they ought to be a separate state, maybe with eastern Washington and Idaho.I'm okay with granting these sh*tbirds some land to run their own show. Let them have what they want. Just ensure in their charter that people can voluntarily leave, and once they do, they can't go back. And a whole bunch of other sh*t to keep them bottled up and oh, no US gubmint services. They can have some of Cheney's turf too.

mrf

4hYesterday I happened to see a picture of one of the protestors opposing the cap and trade legislation who happened to be a logger. Cap and trade funds would put necessary resources into forestry management and planting trees and shrubs which soak up CO2 emissions like a sponge. Talk about short sighted, cut off nose-spite face.

katwillow

2h

murgatroid:what will happen to us when we have a serious national emergency that calls for consensus and unity.They will blame the "liberals" for the problem, along with gay marriage, dark skinned people, and immigration, and engage in what they'll call guerrilla warfare (terrorism) as long as they can get away with it.

cub_calloway

1h

murgatroid:This is Red State Oregon, my neck of the woods, supporting the walkout--they don't believe in climate change, don't want government interfering in their lives, and are convinced that they ought to be a separate state, maybe with eastern Washington and Idaho. This area generally supported the Malheur refuge outrage. I've heard lots of complaining about having to live under Kate Brown's "jackboot," too. It makes you wonder, when there is such a clear-cut case for climate change action, what will happen to us when we have a serious national emergency that calls for consensus and unity.OK. Here's the deal. Red wingers get their state of Idorwash in exchange for the 28th Amendment repealing the Electoral College and providing for presidential and vice presidential election by the direct majority of votes cast by the people.

brainpicnic7h

Oh, the asshat cowards make a threat and so shut down government? Oregon, please don't feed the terrorists and grow a spine, this is our country not theirs.3 Likes

midnight_rambler7h

“These people are all armed and prepared to put themselves in front of senators to prevent arrests from Oregon State Police specifically,” a member of the Oregon III% organization told TPM.Then arrest them, and if they resist, shoot them. What the f*ck is the problem here?3 Replies9 Likes

brian512

7h

midnight_rambler:Then arrest them, and if they resist, shoot them. What the f*ck is the problem here?Maybe they don't look like the kind of people the police are accustomed to shooting at?Hey -- that gives me an idea. First, we tell the militia dolts that it would really "trigger the libtards" if they all wore blackface.Then we call the SWAT team.

pyanfar

6hMaybe the guys they'd be shooting at have fully automatic weapons that fire hundreds of times a minute at longer ranges? Better body armor? Grenades and rocket launchers?

(SALEM, Ore.) — Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said Monday she won't negotiate with Republicans who walked out to thwart landmark climate legislation, at least not until they return to the Capitol.

All eleven Republican senators didn't show up to work for a fifth day Monday, denying Democrats the number of lawmakers needed to vote on a potential statewide cap and trade plan.

Brown, a Democrat, deployed the Oregon State Police last week to seek out Republicans, but many fled the state and remain outside the police's jurisdiction.

Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger said in a statement he has yet to reach a deal with Democrats and that Republicans "intend to remain out of state."

Democrats have an 18 to 11 majority but need 20 members to conduct business under state law.

Brown blasted Baertschiger in an interview with The Associated Press, saying she refuses to negotiate with the Senate Minority Leader until he returns to the building.

"If he wants to negotiate with the governor of the state of Oregon, he needs to be in the building," she said.

"Or at least be in the state of Oregon."

A spokeswoman for Baertschiger said he was unavailable to comment beyond the statement.

Republicans are protesting what could be the nation's second statewide cap and trade program.

The measure would dramatically reduce greenhouse gases in Oregon by 2050 by capping carbon emissions and requiring businesses to buy or trade for an ever-dwindling pool of pollution "allowances."

Democrats say the program is critical to make Oregon a leader in the fight against climate change and will ultimately create jobs and transform the economy.

Republicans and other opponents, including the state's struggling timber industry, say the proposal will kill jobs, raise the cost of fuel and gut small businesses in rural areas.

They also say that they've been left out of policy negotiations, and that the measure represents an urban majority enforcing their priorities against the will of rural Oregon residents.

"To say that Republicans haven't had a seat at the table is hogwash, baloney and a lot of other things that I can't mention in polite company," said Brown.

She said that her office spent hours negotiating with Republicans last week and that "there were many things put on the table" for a potential compromise.

Republicans "walked" from those options, she said.

The governor also rejected conservatives' push to send the measure to the ballot, saying that voters already approved strong climate policy when they elected a Democratic governor and a Democratic supermajority in the statehouse.

This is the second time Senate Republicans, who are in the minority, walked off the job to block a vote.

Conservatives walked out for four days in May to block a $2 billion school funding increase, returning only when the governor struck a deal to table legislation on gun control and vaccine requirements.

Part of that agreement, said Brown, was that Republicans wouldn't walk out again.

"I took priorities off the table that were key priorities for me and for Democrats generally. Sen. Baertschiger said three times they would not walk out again," she said.

"He broke that deal."

This time, Republicans' walkout attracted national attention after a tumultuous weekend that began with the Senate leader ordering the Capitol closed because of a "possible militia threat" from far-right groups, who threatened to join a peaceful protest organized by local Republicans.

One of those groups, the Oregon Three Percenters, joined an armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016 and has offered safe passage to senators on the run.

The threat, however, never materialized and fewer than 100 people showed up.

The governor said Statehouse closure and threats from Sen. Brian Boquist that state troopers should "come heavily armed" when they bring him back to the Capitol reflects a tense partisan divide felt on the national level.

"We thought in Oregon that we were above all that, above this type of divisive and partisan politics," she said.

"It's really clear that what is happening in Washington, D.C., is seeping out to the states and I think that is the most unfortunate thing of all."

Democrats have until the end of the week to get Republicans back to the building before the legislative session is set to end.

Legislators have yet to approve a majority of the state budget and other Democratic priorities addressing affordable housing, paid family leave and driver's licenses for immigrants in the country illegally.

Oregon’s Republican state senators will return to the Capitol on Saturday following a weeklong walkout over a proposed climate change cap-and-trade bill, Senate Minority Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr. (R) announced on Friday.

“Our mission walking out of this building was to kill cap and trade,” Baertschiger said at a press conference.

“And that’s what we did.”

Eleven Republican senators fled the state last week in order to deny Democrats the necessary quorum to vote on and pass an expansive greenhouse gas emissions cap-and-trade bill.

But chaos quickly ensued as Gov. Kate Brown (D) authorized state troopers to find and retrieve them and threats of violence emerged.

Though the Democratic Party holds an 18-11 majority in the state Senate, Oregon law requires 20 senators be in attendance to hold session.

With all of the GOP Senate members in hiding, the Senate was unable to vote on any legislation for eight days and the bill — once expected to pass — now faces almost certain death.

Senate Democratic leader Peter Courtney indicated on Tuesday that the bill no longer had enough support among Democrats — and Baertschiger said Friday that both Courtney and Brown had privately assured him that their party would now be voting no.

Oregon House Speaker Tina Kotek was one of several prominent Democrats to decry the Republicans’ drastic move, accusing them of “threatening our democratic institution and subverting the will of Oregon voters.”

Baertschiger was asked to comment on the threats of violence that hung over the weeklong walkout — which included one Republican senator implying that he would use deadly force on officers sent to retrieve him and law enforcement officials closing the Capitol on Saturday due to “a credible threat from militia groups.”

“Send bachelors and come heavily armed,” Sen. Brian Boquist said last week ahead of the walkout.

“I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It’s just that simple.”

Baertschiger said he was unfamiliar with the threats made against the Capitol but did respond to Boquist’s remarks.

“You gotta remember at that time a lot of tempers were flaring,” he said.

“Obviously, his statement was not helpful.”

When asked about the fear held by some cap and trade opponents that state Senate Democrats would continue to push for the bill, Baertschiger said he understood their concern.

“The trust in the Oregon state Capitol is probably at the lowest it’s ever been, and that saddens me,” he said.

“But at the end of the day, we have a constitutional responsibility to get these budgets back and to keep Oregon functional.”

There are only two days left in the legislative session and more than 100 bills are at risk of dying.

But when he was asked if all of his fellow lawmakers would return this weekend, Baertschiger wasn’t sure.

(Washington, DC) - “It is impossible to prepare for an apocalypse,” Dr. Duane Sands, the health minister of the Bahamas, told reporters Sunday.

Somehow, though, we all had better try.

Those who have witnessed the devastation wrought by Hurricane Dorian on Grand Bahama, Great Abaco and Little Abaco islands struggle to describe it.

"Some places it's like nothing happened," Mark Green, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, told The Washington Post after an aerial tour.

"Other places, it's like they were hit by a nuclear bomb."

Dorian, then a Category 5 storm bearing sustained winds of 185 miles per hour and gusts even stronger, stalled over the northern Bahamas and barely moved for nearly three full days.

The result was the kind of damage more commonly seen from tornados, except that a tornado touchdown typically lasts just minutes.

In the town of Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco, entire neighborhoods were smashed into rubble and then the broken pieces were blown around like confetti.

Journalists who have reached those places say the smell of death is everywhere.

The official toll stood at just 45 on Monday, but authorities have understandably prioritized the care and feeding of thousands of bereft survivors over the counting of the dead.

It is assumed that the final number, or estimate, will be orders of magnitude higher.

Sands, who oversees the grim tally, has used the word "staggering" to describe the loss of life.

An exact number of casualties will likely never be known because Dorian's tsunami-like storm surge carried many victims away.

Survivors have told wrenching stories of how they watched helplessly as loved ones were swept out to sea.

Tens of thousands of people who remain in the devastated areas, and who have lost everything, desperately need food, shelter, clothing and medical attention.

This slow-motion catastrophe is unfolding barely 100 miles off the coast of Florida.

One thing the United States government can do is avoid a repeat of what happened Sunday night, when scores of refugees were forced to disembark from a ferry about to head from Grand Bahama to Fort Lauderdale because they did not have visas to enter the country.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection blamed the ferry company; the ferry's crew reportedly blamed CBP. Whoever was responsible, such cruelty must not happen again.

Republican Senators marco rubio and rick scott of Florida have asked the acting-president to waive all visa requirements for Bahamians with relatives in the United States.

In other respects, U.S. officials seem to be doing everything they can to help the Bahamas cope with the immediate tragedy.

Sadly, however, our government is willfully blind to the bigger picture.

Climate scientists have predicted that human-induced global warming will make hurricanes stronger, more laden with rainfall and, possibly, more likely to stall — just like Dorian.

Rising sea levels, due to climate change, make low-lying coastal communities more vulnerable than in the past.

puppetine may believe climate change is a hoax, but the next hurricane could potentially do to his Palm Beach estate what Dorian did to Marsh Harbour.

Our government should be moving on two fronts.

First, it should join the rest of the world in acknowledging the need to try to limit climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels.

It is insane that while the puppetine administration sends resources to help the Bahamas, it is simultaneously throwing a legal fit over the decision by California and major car manufacturers to make their vehicles emit less heat-trapping carbon than puppetine would prefer.